The Square peg in a Round hole

During the ICANN50 Public forum on 26th June 2014, I made an appeal for At-large to get a fair representation at the ICANN board level. Here is the transcript, that due to my Kenyan english, I’m sure the transcribers could not get correctly 🙂

“Mwendwa Kivuva, Internet Society Kenya Chapter and AFRALO. I respresent myself, and I will speak in Kenyan English.

I am happy to say this ICANN has celebrated the individual internet user, where most of us belong. Atlarge.

At ATLAS2 showcase, The ICANN president Fadi Chahade said, “It’s time to put the user at the front of the family.”

Steve Crocker the Chair said, “ICANN should all be about Atlarge”. End quote

From this, we see that The end user should be considered an essential component of ICANN’s multistakeholder model.

This seems to contradict the constitution of the ICANN board where Atlarge has only one board position while the other groups like ccNSO, and GNSO, each have 2 positions.
The urgument advanced is that board members don’t represent the interests of their community but represent the interests of ICANN. But I differ, that is not true since board members have the DNA of the constituency that nominated them.
Board members should represent public interest, and it’s in public interest for Atlarge to get an extra seat at the board.

[Applause] 🙂

Here is the Public forum transcript: https://london50.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-afralo/transcript-afralo-25jun14-en.pdf

So while on the Hotel bus from London’s Heathrow Airport terminal 4, I meet this couple of about 60 years. As we chat, I learn that they are from Australia and are in Europe for a two week bus tour. After touring London, they will take a bus tour with other colleagues and travel through France, Germany, Switzerland, … Well, that is such an experience.

On my second week, while spending at the Clink, I meet Nathan from New Zealand. Depute him not knowing where Kenya is, let alone Nairobi, he tells me he’s in a company of four, touring all over Europe for a couple of months. They had rented a tour home-van that allowed them the flexibility of travelling in all cities across Europe without having to spend in a hotel.